Geneva: Musée Barbier-Mueller

With check-out from The Nest in St Saphorin at 11:00a, we had plenty of time to not only have breakfast on the balcony, but also do a conference call to determine the feasibility of an idea Mui and I have been tossing around.

And then it was time to head to Annecy for the day before our overnight in Geneva. But that’s not what happened.

Mui had noticed that the electrical system of our rental car was acting ‘quirky’ and wanted to return the car to the agency sooner rather than later. So, we programmed the GPS to take us to the airport … stopping along the way to drop off our bags at the Nash Suites Airport Hotel.

Our room would not be available until 4:00p, so we figured we’d drop off the car and then take the train to Geneva Central to do some sightseeing in the city … maybe visit a museum or two. Not so easy to do on a Monday, but the woman at the info desk at the train station found us an option — Musée Barbier-Mueller.

The museum was founded in 1977 by Monique and Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller … avid collectors of contemporary and non-western art. The mission of the museum is to preserve, study, exhibit, and publish a century-old collection that was begun by Josef Müller, Monique’s father, in 1908.

The signage at the museum, explained further: “… The collection now comprises several thousand pieces and includes works of art from tribal and classical antiquity as well as sculptures, textiles and ornaments from civilizations throughout the world. A number of them are considered essential masterpieces.”

After purchasing our admission — €5pp — we were invited to explore the exhibits at our own pace, and partake of complimentary coffee in the courtyard. Mui lost o time taking them up on the latter offer.

We began with the rooms on the ground floor, and then went up to the second floor to see the current thematic exhibition that pairs some of the pieces from the collection with the photography of Jean-Baptiste Huynh … a self-taught French photographer.

Small though the museum turned out to be, the exhibits were quite interesting and I’m glad we made time for this little gem.

A meandering walk eventually led us to Restaurant Les Armures … where we had lunch on our second day in Geneva at the beginning of our trip … adjacent to the old armory in Old Town. We again opted for the café-like outdoor setting instead of the white-linen tables indoors. The food as tasty as it had been the first time … the service greatly improved.

Enjoying gelato from Manu after our late lunch, we continued to meander, searching for a barber shop for Mui to get a haircut. Mission accomplished.

We returned to the hotel after 4:00p to ensure that our room would be ready … and it was.

Time now to relax and reminisce about our road trip. We certainly had a wonderful time and hope to return someday to explore places we did not get to this time.Læs mere